Inking mechanism for printing presses



- March 7, 1933. H A, w woo I 1,900,263

INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Original Filed April 28, 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet l INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Original Filed April 28. 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 I March 7, 1933/ H. A. w. WOOD INKINGMECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Original Filed April 28, 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 March 7, 1933. H, A, w woo INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING- PRESSES 6 Sheets-Sheet 5.

Origifial Filed April 28, 1927 b v 6 mflm.-- J 7 A 6/ March 7, 1933. H, A. w. WOOD 1,900,263

mum MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Original Filed April 28, 1927 e Sheets-Sheet o f l J Eds/7r- ZTAWTZ50Z V @Mraq:

' d'tvp 75% sm Patented Mar. 7, 19 33 UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE HENRY A. WISE v WOOD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO WOOD NEWSPAPER MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA INKING- MECHANISM FOR- PRINTING PRESSES Application filed April 28, 1927, Serial No. 187,375. Renewed February 8, 1932.

This invention relates to a'printing press, most of the features of which are adapted to be. used in connection with a press for printing newspapers in large quantities.

The invention is shown as applied to one unit of such a press, it being understood that several units can be combined toform a more complete press, but this invention is not concerned with the way of combining them.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide an improved means for driving the inking mechanism and particularly for driving the fountain roll independently of the printing couple, the rest of the inking mechanism being driven by the latter; to provide an improved way of mounting the ink fountain with the fountain roll therein and for adjusting the ink fountain in a simple way to control the pressure of the fountain roll against the pick-up roll and to provide a spring connection forcing it into contact therewith; to provide an operating means controlled by the rotation of the fountain roll from the direct drive which will reciprocate the pick-up roll longitudinally for the purpose of more. thoroughly distributing the ink on the pick-up roll as it is taken on its surface; to supply the'ink from the pickup roll to the ink drum in a smoother film than has been done heretofore, by the use of an extra roll; to provide the ink drum with a pair of extra distributing rolls for the purpose of smoothing out the ink on the surface of the ink-drum during the travel of the ink from the form rolls back toward the composition rolls on the idle side of the ink drum, thus eliminating any patterns left by the ink on the. ink drum by the plates on the plate cylinder and bringing the ink back to the composition rolls in a practically smooth condition so as to avoid the repetition of previously printed figures in the form of shadows super-imposed upon the new printing; to provide means for vibrating the two extra rolls in a new sequence to secure more eiiicient distribution; to provide improved means for adjusting the impression couples and securing the proper degree of pressure between the two cylinders of the same, and.

to provide certain improvements inthe cylinder boxes and their'adjusting devices.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be. had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. l is a side view of a printing press unit with folder showing in a general way the various improvements which constitute this invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of parts shown in Fig. 1 illustrating on enlarged scale the driving shaft coupling means and showing the parts uncoupled;

Fig. 3 .is a sectional view the line 3-3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the entireinking mechanism;

Iiig. 5 is a plan of the ink fountain and it rol Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 66 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on theline 7'7 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a plan of the means for vibrating the extra composition rolls and;

Fig. 9 is a series of diagrammatic views showing the way in which these rolls vibrate.

Referring first to Fig. 1, I have shown the press, or rather a press unit, comprising means for feeding ink to the printing couples and perfecting the web and feeding the web through a setof compensating rolls after having first slit it, and then bringing the slit Webs over the drag roll into the folder one over the others It will beunderstood that these elements may constitute a' complete press, but they can constitute an element of a multiple press for use in a newspaper printof the same on ing plant, in which case onefolder wouldserve to take the press units.

I have shown the machine as driven by a main drive shaft 10 provided with clutches. On this shaft 10 is slidingly keyed a clutch section 12 and a loose clutch section 13. The section 12 is moved by a lever 14 having a socket in which is adapted to be placed a handle which is pivoted on an axis 15. This lever has a fork 16 with the notches engaging product from a pluralityof pins 17 projecting from a ring 18 on the clutch section 12. The ring is centrally slit and connected by screws 19, see Fig. 3.

The lever 14 is provided with an arm 20 constituting part of the lever and having a spring 21 engaging with a stationary arm 22 for normally swinging the clutch lever 14 back into inoperative position about a pin 23. On the loose clutch section 13 is a bevel gear 25 meshing with another bevel gear on a vertical driving shaft 26 which drives the various elements of the )ress unit. It will be understood that this 0 utch arrangement, while specifically illustrated as being used for driving the shaft 26, is duplicated further along on the driving shaft 10 for-driving a vertical shaft 126 which operates the folder and its associated parts.

In connection with the driving of the press through the shaft 26, it is to be noted that on this shaft is a spiral gear 27 meshing with a spiral gear 28 on a shaft 29 carried in bearings on a bracket 30 in which also, is a bearing for the shaft 26. This shaft 29 therefore is driven'constantly whenever the shaft 26 is operated and it always turns with it, there being no means for disconnecting it.

On the end of the shaft 29 is a spiral gear 31, driving a spiral gear 32 on a shaft 33, which, by means of spur gears 34, drives the ink fountain roll 35. In other words, this ink fountain roll is driven constantly as long as the shaft 26 is running. In this way the fountain roll is connected directly with the press drive and starts into action as soon as the press is started while the ink distributing mechanism is connected with the printing couple and operates in conjunction therewith. This roll is supported in bearings 36 in the ink fountain 37. This ink fountain is provided with a pair of studs 38 in alignment with each other and located at one extreme side of the the fountain, so that the fountain will swing about the axis of these studs 38, and itsopposite end will have a capacity for an ample motion. The free end is provided with a lug 39 held up by a strong spring 40. A screw 41 passes through the'lug 39 and projects upwardly from it, and its head is adapted to be turned by a spanner to adjust its top relatively to the lug 39. This screw is held in adjusted position by a lock-nut as appears in Fig. 7.

Mounted on the frame of the press is a shaft 42 provided with square ends by which it can be turned. On this shaft are eccentrics 43 in position to bear on the heads of the studs 41 to limit the upward motion of the fountain 37 and control the degree of pres sure exerted by the fountain roll 35 on the pick-up roll 44. It will be seen that the fountain roll is pressed against the pick-up roll by the pressure of the spring 40, and that the amount of pressure is adjusted by the screw 41, while the rotation of the shaft 42 through aaoaaes a half revolution will swing the fountain and the roll 35 down out of contact with the blades 46, each individually adjusted by screws 47. The whole bracket is pivoted on studs 48, all as shown in my previous application, Serial N 0. 148,442, filed November 15, 1926.

A feature of this invention is the vibration of the pick-up roll from the fountain roll. The fountain roll is driven constantly from the vertical shaft 26. This roll 35 is pro vided at its end with a cam 50 which operates a roll 51 carried by a lever 52 which swings on the vertical stud 53 as a center. This lever 52 is provided with an upwardly extending roll 54 which enters a groove, circular in shape, in a hub 55 on the shaft of the pick-up roll 44. The result of this connection is that the pick-up roll, which is slidingly mounted in its own bearings, will be vibrated longitudinally by the rotation of the fountain roll. This forms a very simple connection for accomplishing this object, and it serves to smooth out the ink on the pick-up roll and fountain roll constantly whenever they are in action. As the power for this does not come down through the printing couple it is more direct and is practically independent of the vibration of the distributing rolls 57 of the inking mechanism.

The pick-up roll is not in contact with the ink drum, but is drivenfrom it by gearing as usual. This is accomplished readily in this case because the pick-up roll is never moved bodily to and from the ink drum, all that motion being provided for in the movement of the fountain roll.

From the pick-up roll the ink ,is carried to the ink drum 59 by two composition rolls 58, and is distributed thereon by the rolls 57 which are arranged to vibrate in the same way as the rolls 61, so that vibration is not otherwise illustrated in detail here.

The usual form rolls 60 are shown, and usual gearing for driving the ink drum from the plate cylinder which, as stated, drives the pick-up roll, the composition rolls, and dis tributing rolls. An additional feature is the provision of two ink film equalizing rolls 61 on the return of idle side of the ink drum. These two rolls are employed for the purpose of smoothing out the ink on the ink drum as it returns through its cycle after each printing operation is perforn'led. Ordinarily any specially shallow or deep spot on the printing plate will impress itself 011 the ink on the form rolls and transfer the impression back to the ink drum so that at times this is not entirely worked out by the distributing rolls 57 and other rolls in contact with the ink drum. It may be returned to the plate cylinder to form a faint impression which interferes with clear printing. The purpose of these rolls 61 is to iron out the irregularities in the body of ink returned to the ink drum by the form rolls, and to do this before this body of ink is acted upon by the composition rolls and distributing rolls. For this purpose the two new distributing rolls 61 are located at a point between the form rolls and composition rolls 58, and are pressed against the surface of the ink drum. These two rolls constitute means for preventing the difficulty above mentioned. They are assisted in thisaction by the fact that two composition rolls 58 are employed to take the ink from'the pick-up roll to the ink drum. Any imprint left on one roll 58 which is in contact with the ink drum tends to be wiped out largely by its contact with the other roll 58 which is an extra roll that I have added.

The two distributing rolls 61 are mounted in bearings on the frame and capable of reciprocation in the direction of their axes. Instead of moving opposite each other all the time, which tends to provide a definite path for any irregularity in the ink which they are used to spread out, they have a reciprocation in which the two rolls move in the same direction a part of the time, but at different points in their stroke, and they move in opposite directions part of the time. More specifically stated, while .one roll is moving from one limit to the other of its path of travel in one direction, the other roll is moving from a central pointin its path of travel to its limiting point and then back to the central point. From this it results that during the backward motion of the first roll, the second roll moves backward with it through half its amplitude of vibration and then in the opposite direction throughout the other half. This is a more complicated motion than has been used heretofore and results in more thoroughly mixing the ink or in other words breaking down the irregularities in the ink film on which these rolls operate.

For the purpose of securing this result, the ink drum 59 has on its shaft 62 a double threaded worm wheel 63 in a recess in a housing 59 driving a worm 64 on a transverse shaft (Fig. 8). This worm has an eccentric stud 65 which operates a lever 66 pivoted on a projection or bracket on the frame. As the pivot of the lever 66 is stationary,the rotation of the stud 65 moves its support, which is the housing 59, back and forth. The housing and ink drum cannot move axially independently of each other, therefore the ink drum is reciprocated. The middle portion of this lever is connected by a link 68with a bell crank 67 pivoted on a stud on the other side of the shaft of the ink drum. The bell crank has an arm'engaging in a collar 69 on the shaft of one of the distributing rolls 61. The other distributing roll 61 is not operated from this eccentric 65 but by a bell crank 7 0 actuated by a projecting lip orcam 7 O on the housing 59 on the ink drum shaft 62. The parts are so related that the two rolls 61 are reciprocated in the manner above described, and in Fig. 9 I have shown diagrammatically the way of vibration of these two rolls. It will be seen that each complete vibration forward and back is divided into four parts and that on alternate quarters the two rolls are moving in opposite directions and on the other quarters, that is half the time, the two rolls are moving in the same direction but half a stroke apart.

From Fig. 9 it will be seen that when the ink drum 59 and the lower one of the rolls 61. have moved together and reached the extreme endsof their travel, the movement imparted from the lever 66 to the bell crank 67 is at that time in the center of its position. Thus the. two rolls 61 come to the end of their respective strokes one quarter of a complete cycle apart. Thus, when one is in the act of reversing, the other is at the middle of its motion. Beginning at the top of Fig. 9 when the upper roll has come to a stop at the extreme right hand position, the lower roll is at that time travelling to the left and .at the middle of its stroke. In the second position shown, the lower roll has reached its extreme left hand position and the upper roll is in the middle of its left hand motion. In the third position, the upper roll has reached the end of its left hand motion and come to a stop while the lower roll is in the middle of its movement to the right. At the bottom of Fig. 9 the lower roll has reached its extreme right hand position and the upper roll is in the middle of its movement to the right.

This, as stated, constitutes a very el'ficient way of distributing the ink on the surface of getting rid of any projections or indentations in the ink film produced by the plate cylinder. It will be understood from what has been said that the distributing rolls 5? can be'operated in a similar way. Three of them are operated by the eccentric 65 and one of them by the lip 70*.

It will be seen that by this invention the inking mechanism is improved in various ways. The fountain roll is driven from the driving shaft through a transmission means separate from that which drives the printing couple, while the pick-up roll and everything between that and the printing couple is driven by the latter.

The fountain roll is moved into contact with the pickup roll by the adjustment of the fountain itself and without any possibility of interfering with or temporarily interrupt: ing the. drive of the fountain roll and of course having no bearing whatever on the operation of the pick-up roll. The pressureof the fountain roll against the pick-up roll also is adjusted to any desired degree entirely independent of the drive for the pick-up roll.

' thus providing for a more uniform distributionof the ink on the pick-up roll at the time of application thereto.

The ink drum is reciprocated longitudinally and a pair of additional rolls are located on what may be considered the return or idle side of the ink drum, both in contact with it. One of them is reciprocated by its reciprocation while the other is reciprocated by its rotation. The two reciprocations are of such a nature that the two rolls are moved in a new way in which they travel in the same direction part of the time and in opposite directions part of the time as has been explained.

This whole mechanism, including the two extra rolls on the ink drum and the two rolls between the pick-up roll and the ink drum in series, adds very materially, in the ways that have been mentioned, to the smoothness of the ink on the ink drum before it encounters the usual distributing rolls. The latter act in the usual manner, except that if desired, they can be connected up to operate in the same manner as the two extra rolls just referred to.

This whole ink distributing mechanism materially improves the smoothness and uniformity of the film of ink delivered to the form rolls and plate cylinder. The cylinders of the impression couples are secured in position and adjusted in an improved manner.

These several features are combined with each other in such a way that the machine is compact and all parts are readily adjustable and time is saved for performing these operations. This is an important feature on account of the necessity of speed in newspaper printing plants. No claim ismade herein to the printing couple disclosed, as that is the subject matter of my divisional application 'Serial No. 457.266 filed May 29, 1930.

Although I have illustrated and described only one form of the invention I am aware of the fact that modifications can be made therein by any person skilled in the art with out departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore I do not wish to be limited to all the details of construction herein shown and described, but what I do claim is 1. In a drive for a printing press inking mechanism, the combination with a main driving shaft, of a press drive shaft, a clutch for positively connecting the drive shaft with the main shaft at will, a gear on the press drive shaft, a shaft adapted to be operated by said gear constantly, and an ink fountain roll connected with the last-named shaft to be operated thereby constantly while the press drive shaft is operating.

2. In a drive for a printing press inking mechanism, the combination with a main driving shaft arranged horizontally at the lower part of the press, of a vertical press drive shaft, a clutch for positively connecting the drive shaft with the main shaft at will, a gear on the vertical press drive shaft, a horizontal shaft adapted to be operated by said gear constantly, and an ink fountain roll connected with the last-named shaft to be operated thereby constantly while the press drive shaft is operating.

3. In an inking device for a printing press,

the combination of a fountain roll located in bearings movable up and down, means for constantly driving the fountain roll irrespective of its position, yielding means for holding the fountain roll up, a pick-up roll above the fountain roll, and means for adjusting the pressure by which the yielding means holllds the fountain roll against the pick-up ro 4. In an inking device for a printing press, the combination of a fountain pivoted near one side thereof and a fountain roll located in bearings in the fountain near the other side on an axis parallel with the pivots, means for constantly driving the fountain roll irrespective of the position of the fountain, yielding means for holding the fountain up, a pickup roll above the fountain roll, and means for adjusting the pressure by which the yielding means holds the fountain roll against the pick-up roll.

5. In an inking mechanism for a printing press, the combination with a fountain movable up and .down, a fountain roll carried in bearings within the fountain, a pick-up roll supported in stationary bearings above the founta n roll to be engaged thereby when the fountain is moved upwardly, means for yieldingly forcing the fountain upwardly to apply a yielding pressure to the pick-up roll through the fountain roll. means operated by the fountain roll for vibrating the pick-up roll in the direction of its axis as the fountain roll rotates, and means for rotating the fountain roll and pick-up roll independently of each other.

6. In an inking mechanism for a printing press. the combination with a fountain roll movable up and down, a pick-up roll supported in stationary bearings above the fountain roll to be engaged thereby, means for yielding'ly forcing the fountain roll upward ly to apply a yielding pressure to the pickup roll, and means operated by the fountain roll for vibrating the pick-up roll in the direction of its axis as the fountain roll rotates.

7. In an inking device for a printing press, the combination with a fountain roll, a pickup roll, and independent means for rotating the two rolls from the same source of power,

of means for vibrating the pick-up roll longitudinally from the fountain roll.

8. In a printing press, the combination with a main shaft, a clutch section slidingly keyed to the main shaft, a clutch section rotatably mounted on the main shaft and having a gear secured thereto to be rotated by the clutch, a shaft connected with said gear to be 0perated thereby, printing couples connected with the last-named shaft to be operated thereby, an inking mechanism comprising form rolls, distributing rolls and a pick-up roll driven from the printing couple, a shaft constantly driven by the last-named shaft, a fountain roll in contact with the pick-up roll and connected with the constantly driven shaft 'to be driven thereby, whereby the fountain roll and pick-up roll are driven through different driving mechanisms.

9. In an inking mechanism for a printing press, the combination with a fountain roll and pick-up roll adapted to turn in contact with each other to deliver the ink to the pickup roll, said fountain roll having a-cam on the shaft thereof, a lever having a cam roll engaging said cam whereby the lever will swing on its axis as the fountain roll rotates, said lever having a second roll thereon, and a collar fixedly mounted with respect to the pick-up roll and having a groove around it, in which groove the second roll is located, whereby the rotation of the fountain roll will reciprocate the pick-up roll.

10. In an inking mechanism for a printing press, the combination with a fountain roll and pick-up roll adapted to turn in contact with each other to deliver the ink to the pickup roll, said fountain roll having a cam on the shaft thereof, a lever pivoted on a vertical axis above the fountain roll and having a cam roll engaging said cam whereby the lever will swing on its axis as the fountain roll rotates, said lever having a second roll thereon in axial alignment with the firstnamed roll but projecting upwardly, and a collar fixedly mounted with respect to the pick-up rolLand having astraight groove around it, in which groove'the second roll is located, whereby the rotation of the fountain roll will reciprocate the pick-up roll in the direction of its axis. 1

11. In an inking mechanism for a printing press, the combination with an ink drum and a pick-up roll out of contact with each other, of a composition roll in contact with the pickup roll, a composition roll in contact with the ink drum, saidcomposition rolls being in contact with eachother, and a pair of distributing rolls in contact with the ink drum in the space between said composition rolls and the plate cylinder on the return side of the ink drum for distributing and smoothing out the ink on the ink drum on its return from printing contact.

12. In an inking mechanism for a printing press, the combination with a plate cylinder, a pair of form rolls and an ink drum contacting with the form rolls, of a pair of distributing rolls in engagement with the ink drum on the side of the ink drum toward which it turns after the printing operation, and Vmeans for vibrating said distributing rolls longitudinally, in such a way that, while one of them moves throughout a complete stroke in a longitudinal direction, the other one will move from a position half way between the two ends of the stroke to the end of its stroke'and then back to the center of its stroke.

13. In an inking mechanism for a printing press, the combination with a plate cylinder,.

a pair of form rolls and an ink drum contacting with the form rolls, of a pair of distributing rolls in engagement with the ink drum on the side of the ink drum toward which it turns after the printing operation, and means for vibrating said distributing rolls longitudinally to move the two rolls in thesame direction during a part of the stroke and in the opposite direction during a part of the stroke.

14. In an inking mechanism for a printing press, the combination with an ink drum and means for rotating it, of a shaft arranged to be turned by the ink drum shaft, an eccentric on said shaft, a bell crank connected with said eccentric, a distributing roll in contact with the ink drum and connected with said bell crank to be reciprocated thereby, a second distributing roll in contact with the ink drum, and means connected with said ink drum shaft for reciprocating the second distributing roll, but set at such a point that the two distributing rolls will move throughout a half of a complete stroke in the same direction and then will move throughout another half of the stroke in opposite directions and will repeat the said operation throughout the opposite stroke.

15. In an inking mechanism for a printing 1 press, the combination with an ink drum and means for rotating it, of a shaft arranged to be turned by the ink drum shaft, an eccentric on said shaft, a bell crank connected with said eccentric, a distributing roll in contact with the ink drum and connected with said bell crank to be reciprocated thereby.

16. In an inking mechanism, the combination with an ink drum having a housing in which itrotates but movable longitudinally with it, a transverse shaft carried by the housing, m ans for rotating the transverse shaft from the ink drum, an eccentric on the transverse shaft,'a link pivoted at a fixed point and connected to the eccentric to be operated thereby, whereby the rotation of the eccentric will reciprocate the housing and ink drum, a distributing roll in contact with the ink drum on the return side thereof, and means for connecting the distributing roll with said link to cause the roll to be reciprocated by the eccentric, but out of step with the reciprocation of the ink drum.

17 In an inking mechanism, the combination with an ink drum having a housing in which it rotates but movable longitudinally with it, a transverse shaft carried by the housing, means for rotating the transverse shaft from the ink drum, an eccentric on the transverse shaft, a link pivoted at a fixed point and connected to the eccentric to be operated thereby, whereby the rotation of the eccentric will reciprocate the housing and ink drum, two distributing rolls in contact with the ink drum on the return side thereof,

means for connecting one distributing roll with said link to cause the roll to be reciprocated by the eccentric, but out of step with the reciprocation of the ink drum, and means for reciprocating the other roll with a motion always opposite to that of the ink drum.

18.- In an inking mechanism for a printing press, the combination with a fountain pivoted at oneside and a fountain roll located in the fountain at the opposite side, of a pickup roll located directly above the fountain roll in position to be engaged thereby, yielding means located at the side of the fountain roll side of the fountain for holding the fountain up about its pivot and forcing the fountain roll against the pick-up roll under yielding pressure, means for adjusting said pressure, and means for moving the fountain down at the fountain roll side against the yielding pressure to bring the fountain roll down out of contact with the pick-up roll, which is supported independently of the fountain.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto af-' fixed my signature.

40 HENRY A. WISE WOOD. 

